A review by gorecki
Possession by A.S. Byatt
3.0
I'll be honest and admit that I felt intimidated by the size of this book for quite a long time. For some reason, looking at the 500 pages of densely typed text in small print, with sections of even more densely typed text in smaller print, made my blood run cold. That, combined with the topic, made Possession feel very academic. Like I was back researching for my Master's thesis. But then I pushed myself to start and lo and behold! I've finished it and actually enjoyed it quite a bit!
Possession is a multi-layered story within a story within a story. It's also poetry within a story, science within a poem, and a story within a scientific paper. It's... a lot! It's a double love story, once with two characters trying to track down the true connection between two fictional Victorian poets, and then again with the two Victorian poets themselves; it's also a detective story - looking for clues, tracking down evidence and facts, unearthing long hidden stories; it's also a research paper of sorts, with all of its analysis of literary work and theories and the inner workings of university research departments. Long story short - this book packs so much and is so well developed, researched and written, that I just have to say this directly and clearly - A.S. Byatt is a genius for being able to create such an all-encompassing world. She has done everything: created complex characters, kept them growing and developing, written all the poetry for the fictional poets, written all the criticism of their works, created all of their letters and all the diary entries of other fictional characters who have met the fictional poets, and then connected it all masterfully in a 500 page overarching narrative. I mean... If that's not genius, I don't know.
Genius or not, though, I also have to admit I skipped a few parts... As exceptional as her work is here, I found the lengthy Victorian letters and the wordy Victorian poems to drag for me and to lose my interest rather quickly. On many occasions I kept myself to the base story of the book and skimmed through the paragraphs of the letters to see if there is anything I absolutely can't miss or if I can move along.
It might be a while before I decide to read another Byatt book, but I definitely appreciate her mastery and genius in Possession!
Possession is a multi-layered story within a story within a story. It's also poetry within a story, science within a poem, and a story within a scientific paper. It's... a lot! It's a double love story, once with two characters trying to track down the true connection between two fictional Victorian poets, and then again with the two Victorian poets themselves; it's also a detective story - looking for clues, tracking down evidence and facts, unearthing long hidden stories; it's also a research paper of sorts, with all of its analysis of literary work and theories and the inner workings of university research departments. Long story short - this book packs so much and is so well developed, researched and written, that I just have to say this directly and clearly - A.S. Byatt is a genius for being able to create such an all-encompassing world. She has done everything: created complex characters, kept them growing and developing, written all the poetry for the fictional poets, written all the criticism of their works, created all of their letters and all the diary entries of other fictional characters who have met the fictional poets, and then connected it all masterfully in a 500 page overarching narrative. I mean... If that's not genius, I don't know.
Genius or not, though, I also have to admit I skipped a few parts... As exceptional as her work is here, I found the lengthy Victorian letters and the wordy Victorian poems to drag for me and to lose my interest rather quickly. On many occasions I kept myself to the base story of the book and skimmed through the paragraphs of the letters to see if there is anything I absolutely can't miss or if I can move along.
It might be a while before I decide to read another Byatt book, but I definitely appreciate her mastery and genius in Possession!